Provo Council draws fire over cuts
PROVO — The Provo City Council on Tuesday cut funding for police cars and other equipment before approving the city's $156.1 million budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
Those decisions spurred criticism from Mayor Lewis K. Billings and chief administrative officer Wayne Parker, who said the council overstepped its bounds.
The budget was approved by a 5-2 vote, with Councilman Steve Turley and Councilwoman Midge Johnson dissenting. Billings said he'll work with the funding given, but he might be back for more.
Council Chairwoman Cynthia Dayton predicted ongoing budget discussions the upcoming fiscal year.
The city bosses also criticized the council for cutting out the currently vacant economic-development director and city engineer positions until February under a new mayor, while increasing the council budget.
Newly hired financial services officer Dirk Anderson said much of the council budget increase was his salary. Most other city departments showed a decrease.
For the first time, the City Council added its own priorities to the budget Billings proposed. Council members said those issues amounted to just a quarter of 1 percent of the total budget. Included was $155,000 for branding to boost downtown.
Billings said he'd rather see $105,000 of that go to his equipment budget while the branding effort was spread over several years. Billings asked for $208,000, but the council reduced it $175,482, which cuts out several new police cars and other equipment.
The budget included a final spending figure of $138.7 million after a $1 million error was discovered in the debt-service fund. Of that total, $42.3 million is in the general fund.
E-mail: rodger@desnews.com
Recent comments
Sounds like a few council members are here making comments to...
Vote for JOHN CURTIS | June 24, 2009 at 2:57 p.m.
Seems like there's a huge power play on both sides of our city...
Observer | June 22, 2009 at 11:18 a.m.
Sounds like Provo's Green Jello investigatory squad will suffer deep...
Budget Cuts Happen | June 22, 2009 at 9:45 a.m.
- Salt Lake City woman shot, 2 arrested 12:53 p.m.
- Woman suffers critical injury 12:50 p.m.
- China vows to slow emissions 12:18 p.m.
- Baseball player on mission in Wash. 12:10 p.m.
- Foundation for LDS young women 12:10 p.m.
- Robotic hamsters are the new craze 11:47 a.m.
- Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies 11:27 a.m.
- Prevent problems by spaying dogs 11:01 a.m.
- Turkeys lurking in your home 11:00 a.m.
- Dentistry, a high-tech version 10:45 a.m.
- Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
- Cave rescuers committed to free man
- Holiday television program listings
- Howard made the rivalry a rivalry
- Twitterati to BCS: 'We hate you.'
- Rivalry has had some 'turkeys'
- Donny and Kym dance to victory
- BYU has slim shot at BCS
- Temple Square to use LEDs
- Highland players make special friend
- BYU would like friendlier rivalry
261 - Glenn Beck to enter politics?
227 - Protests against Phoenix LDS temple
210 - RSL wins MLS Cup on penalty kicks
202 - Bronco, Kyle rubber match
139 - BYU records with win
133 - Letters: Rushing to judge Palin
130 - Thunder rolls by Jazz
125 - Boys basketball rankings
114 - Editorial: Poor welcome for Palin
112
You do not need a really expensive player at PG or PF for that matter. You do...
Some think this series allows double standard. But it's not about sex, It's...
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. If your life doesn't include...
"Utah 2 losses to schools that will be playing in BCS bowls." nope!...
I think there is much more going on here. Wonder why it was not mentioned in...
have been impatiently waiting years for the oil/industrial...
BYU and Utah are playing for: 10+ win seasons Top 25 finishes 2nd place...
Our sincere sympathy and condolences to Mr. Jones' wife and children, as well...
Palin is just as much a rookie to national politics as Obama, if not more so....
The arguments in this letter only work against Obama fans. I'm not a fan of...


